Scorecard

For some time Trainer Bill Ferrell of the University of Arkansas has been suspicious of isometric exercises for such athletes as football players (SI, March 2, 1964). Now he believes he has proof that his suspicions are correct.

During the 1962 and 1963 seasons the university's football team succumbed to the craze for isometrics, in which pressure is applied to immovable objects; the muscle remains stationary and in full contraction. In those two years 14 Arkansas football players had to undergo knee surgery, whereas the previous average had been one or two a season. Taking this into account, Ferrell ruled out isometrics as of November 1963. There has not been a "surgical knee" since. Only two of the 25 regulars in the two platoons missed a game through injury in Arkansas' 11-0 season of 1964.

"The isometrics build pretty, bulging muscles fast," Ferrell explained, "but you also get a shortening of the tendon that ties the muscle and bone together at the knee. That shortens the range of the joint. When the knee has to give, as it does in football, it can't."

But for the sedentary nonathlete, he added, isometrics is still great.

NO WAY TO DUCK

The federal law against luring ducks and geese into range with grain was designed for a good purpose, but its functioning leaves something to be desired. In Maryland, for instance, commercial camp owners frequently dump corn or other grains into waters around their blind sites. This is not illegal. It is only illegal to shoot over such baited water. More than a few unsuspecting hunters at commercially-operated blinds are fined every year, and some lose licenses. The camp owners usually go unscathed.

There are other hazards. Last month three Anne Arundel County officials and their guide were brought to court for gunning over 17 kernels of corn. There were 80 harvested acres of legal corn behind the blind and 800 bushels lying on the ground. Raccoon tracks were found near the blind, and raccoons carry their food to water to wash it. Raccoons or not, the men were fined a total of $275.

"Under the law," says Federal Warden Lawrence Thurman Jr., "it is the hunter's responsibility to check around any blind for bait before he starts shooting." Even that may not avail. Thurman concedes that it is not always possible to spot bait, since diving ducks can be lured into range by strewing corn on the bottom in 30 feet of water, where no human eye can detect it.

Possible solutions: let the shooter take 1) a scuba outfit with him or 2) money.

ULTRA SPORT